24 Apr 2026

Autumn (uh Winter?) came in hard last week at Caroline Hut ❄️

We arrived to bare rock… and woke up to winter. Over a metre of cold powder fell during the course — 30cm on day one, and it just kept coming. Gale to severe gale force winds had us holding onto our hoods and adapting plans daily.

Despite the wild weather, the team got it done. A brief window along the ridge when the wind eased, the rest of the time honing skills close to the hut (so good to have a warm hut with a fire 🔥 ). With so much fresh snow, there was plenty of opportunity to learn in real conditions — avalanche awareness, companion rescue, and group scenarios became part of the classroom.

Ropes were going up while pitching on the final day, and digging out trad placements from under a metre of snow definitely kept things interesting.

From rock to full winter in a matter of days — a proper introduction to the realities of the mountains.

📸 @biaboucinhas & E. Holden

#mountaineering #alpinecourse #winteriscoming #avalancheawareness #wintermountaineering